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When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour
At this point nobody really cared what time Nik started on the corner property. It's something to do from the time Maddy left in the morning until the rest of the Port Charles woke up. It's far enough away from other things nobody would hear, but out of consideration until a decent hour-- about eight he would just work with the crowbar and not the sledgehammer. Nothing would be loaded in the dumpster until after light either. The dumpster had been delivered as ordered and filled. Emptied and filled again. They are already on the third dumpster load but by now everything is clear all the way out to the walls. Maddy has the shell she needs to start working on rebuilding the interior of the structure. There are certain givens to a Maddy run project. There are twice as many space heaters as would normally be employed. There is an office area already set up that has the project book and a carafe of coffee. When Maddy gets done with her round of the kiosks there would be Danishes. They'd have breakfast together and then he'd head back to the house to get cleaned up before heading to the hospital. As long as Maddy had her cell phone, business planner and van she could do business anywhere.
"Nikolas?" There is a hesitant knock on the door.
Nik turns at the sound. "Louise. You're out early this morning."
"I've been walking by every day and I just had to stop by." Louise takes a step into the property. "Oh my word. I don't even recognize this place. How many dumpsters have you had hauled away already? Three?"
"Working on our third one now. And you won't-- recognize it that is, by the time we get done." Nik isn't surprised that Louise knows exactly how many dumpsters have been delivered to the property. He goes over to the table where the coffee is, planning on taking a quick break. Might as well do some community PR while he is at it. Louise is the one that can get the word out to the rest of the neighborhood. "Would you like some coffee? There is something I did want to touch base with you about."
"Oh?" Since there are a couple of chairs, Louise has a seat and takes the coffee from Nikolas. "Is there something going on with the neighborhood watch?"
"You might say that." Nikolas takes a seat. "I know how concerned you were about this property and what it has been doing to the values of the properties that surround it."
Louise nods. With Nik being the head of the neighborhood watch she feels comfortable letting her concerns be known. "You know things like this domino in a neighborhood."
"And it was always part of my plan to do something about this corner." Nik agrees. "But my timetable has been moved up."
"Really? Not that I'm complaining. The sooner the better."
"A friend of mine's church has been sponsoring a missionary over in mainland China."
"Don't the communists frown on that?"
"You might say. They threw the missionary in jail and he's under a death sentence right now." Nik says wryly.
"OH my GAWD!" Louise's eyes go wide.
"The missionary's daughter and wife managed to go into hiding and are going to be seeking asylum in the United States."
"Do you need me to write letters? I've got my congressman's direct line."
I don't doubt that you do. Nik shakes his head. "It may come to that but for right now I was hoping that you'd be... the front woman on this. Let everyone know that the Chows will be coming. That this is going to be a neighborhood store that they'll be managing, owning. Keep your eye open for any place that might be available for a rental for them in the neighborhood so it'll be convenient to the store. After everything that they've been thru, the religious persecution and fleeing their home and country, I really hope that the neighborhood will rally around them."
"When do you think they'll be here? When do you think they'll need the rental by?" Louise asks.
Nik shrugs. "April 1st? I'd love to have the store ready to go by May 1st. If the Chows manage to get here earlier they do have family in town. Mr. Chow's sister is the woman that made all the curtains in my house and the poncho that my grandmother wears."
"I was wondering where she got that! It was so perfect when she had her big cast. How is your grandmother doing?"
"She's volunteering at the Elm Street Clinic as a receptionist. She doesn't practice medicine anymore but I know Dr. Quartermaine appreciates her triage skills at the front desk. And it allows her to keep busy while she waits for the final cast to come off in about a month."
"And your mom? How is she doing?"
"Just received word this week that she should be going home soon." Nikolas doesn't go into detail.
"That's wonderful." Louise smiles. She rises to her feet. "And it will be wonderful to have a store right here in the neighborhood if you run out eggs or a loaf of bread. I'll keep my eyes open for a nice place close to the store."
"Thanks Louise." Nik rises to his feet too and walks her out. Maddy is pulling up in the van just as Louise is leaving.
"Leiney!" Louise waves.
"Hi Louise. Big changes huh?" Maddy hops down from her van.
"Nik was just telling me that the Chows will be open for business May 1st if he's got the say."
Partner climbs down from the front passenger seat of the van. "Then it's a good thing I'm here." He shudders as he looks at the plain, one might even say hideous assault on his architectural sensibilities. There is utilitarian and then there is offensive. "And you can't just tear it down and start from scratch... why?!"
"I think that's our cue, Louise." Nik grabs his coat. "You're on your own." He leans over and gives Maddy a quick kiss.
Maddy grabs hold of his coat and kisses him again. She mutters against his lips, "One of these days we're going to have to tell her my name is Maddy."
"Yeah, but not today." Nik agrees. He holds out his hand. Maddy slaps it. Tagging up, Maddy goes to work on the store and Nik heads off to the hospital via Wyndemere Lite.
There is a certain routine at the Harborview Towers developing as well. Monday was the day that worked all the bugs out and it had been running smoothly since then. Li is up early and makes sure that Jason has something for a noon meal in the fridge and then goes out to catch the bus to her language school.
As soon as Jason wakes and is ready for the day he pulls out what Li had planned for his lunch and nukes it, eating it for breakfast. He heads off to either the coffee warehouse or the motorcycle shop depending on his mood or what needs to get done and works on his projects until 2pm when he goes to pick Li up from the grocery store.
She'd gotten over her shock soon enough about the variety of things in the supermarket and instead was back in her habit of shopping for just what was needed for the day or for the weekend so she didn't have to bring Michael to the grocery store with her on the bus. And her ID had arrived. The Visa card had promptly been put away; the debt is now up to $17,586 between what she owed Jason and the cost of the language school. The check card has her picture on it as well and can be used for buying whatever she needs. In addition to the money Jason is paying her for taking care of Michael and the house he also puts the grocery money in that account as well. She doesn't even have to know how to write a check, just swipe a check card, enter a PIN and hit enter.
The clerks in the grocery store are her extra lab where she practices her English. It had started back in the fish department. "Is fresh?" Then pointed to a fish that she knew wasn't. Just to see how the person behind the counter would answer.
"Yeah. Just got it in this morning." The counter person is already looking behind Li.
"Bullshit. Is four, five day old." Li holds up fingers to show how old she thinks the fish is.
That gets the counter person's attention. He calls over his shoulder for the supervisor.
"Can I help you?"
"I like fresh fish." It had been the start of a beautiful friendship. Now the manager sees her coming and brings out the very freshest of seafood. It didn't even really matter what kind. It didn't surprise Jason if the manager of the fishmarket is waiting with Li when he arrives to pick her up from the store or one of the other clerks who is ready for a break and willing to talk about whatever the topic had been at the language school that day. If the Mall is Carly's turf, then this had become Li's.
"Why are we doing this, Maddy?" Partner's tone is definitely put upon.
"Research." Maddy explains. "Do you think I just..." snap "...and put in a coffee kiosk in the mall? I checked out the competition, found out what they were doing wrong and did it right. Now the way I'm seeing this is... this is not going to be a convenience store that's open 24/7. That's been done over and over. And it's not going to be a grocery store. Cause frankly it won't fit. But nobody knows the demographic of the neighborhood better than I do. We've got elders who are an eye test away from not driving. We've got families with preschool age kid who don't want to pack up everything to go to the grocery store. We've got college students."
"The building is a horror."
"It's a shell. And you're gonna provide the filling. You have to figure that the electrical will be running along the wall. Going to need a small functional office..." Maddy's voice fades away as Partner walks away and starts checking out the convenience store.
"There are bars on the windows!" Partner protests.
"It's not a federal crime to rob convenience stores and they don't normally hand out dye packs either. Security is a major issue."
"Safety glass, Kevlar sheets lining the register area, surveillance cameras." Partner mutters and then shudders. "Maddy, darling..."
"It's for Grandmother's brother and his family. You know the lady that has been making you look so good with her sewing... the custom curtains and covers? So they'll have a place once they get out of China. That's if if he gets out of China. He still might get shot. This is the only chance that the widow and daughter...."
"Stop, stop! Enough, Maddy. Any more and you'd have to sell it to the Lifetime Network."
"You'll do it?"
"I'll do it."
"Great, cause the next step was offering up Nik's virtue and I don't think Larry would have been amused."
"Or Nikolas either." Partner accepts Maddy's hug.
"Um... can I help you?" The clerk of the convenience store asks.
"Sure." Maddy steps back. "You can tell me what your number one seller is."
At the Deception offices, Emily is just winding up for the day when her secretary comes in holding a magazine to her bosom. Em reads her face and knows that it's not good news. "What's up?"
"I've been hanging on to this. It came in with your mail today but I knew it was going to be... distracting."
Emily exhales and sits up straight. "Okay. I'm ready. Lay it on me."
The Secretary comes over to the desk and slowly lays the magazine face up on the desk. "Who do you need me to call?"
"The undertaker. I'm dead." Em looks at the cover of Vogue. Looks down at her face and more relevantly her body on the cover of Vogue Magazine. "This wasn't supposed to be out until February."
"It's an advance copy... but not too advance. The magazines always hit the month before."
"Grandfather is going to have a heart attack. Alan is going to have a heart attack. Oh Gawd I'm dead. How do I get talked into these things?!"
"The original model didn't show up?" The secretary offers helpfully.
Em starts banging her head against the desk.
"Do you want me to call Johnny?"
"Oh Gawd-- Johnny. I'm dead. I am so dead."
"You look really great." The secretary says lamely.
Em sighs and runs both of her hands thru her hair. "Thanks. I guess. I knew this was coming. I just didn't think it was going to be so... revealing. I wasn't even dating Johnny when I posed for this."
"Right, this all happened before you were kidnapped."
"Hell it was the reason I was kidnapped." Em mutters. "Okay. Plan. Johnny first. And then...Monica I guess. She'll help me with Dad and Grandfather. Make sure Monica is there when I tell Grandfather... with nitro. Thanks."
"Sorry." The Secretary leaves for the day.
Em calls the direct kitchen number at Porter's Restaurant. "Is Cookie there?" Em asks hopefully. If Johnny's mother was working then there was a chance of a private conversation before the Vogue edition hit the newsstands. "It's Emily."
"If you want dinner be here in twenty minutes." The abrasive voice of the former Quartermaine Cook comes over the line.
"Cookie, I need a huge favor. You remember the last modeling gig I did?"
"The one that after you got done with it you broke your leg, got kidnapped, and shot up with drugs?"
"Not necessarily in that order but yeah, that gig."
"When you had my twelve year old stepdaughter with you?"
"Yeah, that one." Em winces. Cookie is not going to go easy on this one. "The pictures are back from the shoot and I really want Johnny to see them in a real quiet peaceful place."
"Not in the kitchen."
"Not around pointy objects."
"Twenty minutes." Cookie says flatly. "I'll call the poser in to cover."
"Thanks, Cookie."
"What can I do to help?" Sonny asks. He'd been invited over for dinner but not being in the kitchen is driving him crazy. It's bad enough at restaurants where he managed to keep his seat. Although he'd heard enough stories about Johnny Cook's mother and the way she ruled her kitchen to not even try with her.
"I fine." Li declares. She grabs the cleaned bokchoy and starts smoothly chopping it using a cleaver and a rapid motion. She glances over at the rice cooker. Everything is right on time. "Ja-son?!"
"Yeah, what do you need, Li?"
Li answers in French but more to be discreet. "He make me nervous." She holds up the cleaver. "You give him something to drink or something-- away from kitchen?"
"Sonny, Li says that there should be some wine to go with dinner. She's making seafood. You got anything over at your place? There is no way she can buy booze without being carded."
"Wine is not booze, Jase." Sonny sighs but then decides it's a lost cause. Jason was willing to be a connoisseur of beer but not wine. He knew his friend well. Jason would be just as happy with a bottle of wine that had to be unscrewed rather than uncorked. "I'll get something."
"Merci." Li sighs.
"English."
"Thanks." Li smiles at Jason. "Five minutes to soup."
"You need anything?" Jason asks. Li points to the top cupboard and then gets out of Jason's way. Jason reaches up and brings down the big serving bowls and platters. Li might only really use one pan okay two if you included soup, and only the cleaver for all of her cutting needs. But she went thru a lot of serving dishes. A simple dinner for her is three dishes and that isn't including the soup.
"I brought glasses too." Sonny brings the wine and the wine goblets setting them up on the table.
Jason comes out of the kitchen. "Five minutes to soup."
"Do you have any idea..." Sonny worries.
"Nope, I just show up and eat. It's always great." Jason informs Sonny.
"Sit. Sit!" Li insists as she comes in carefully carrying a tureen of soup. Once it is set on the table she picks up the ladle and stirs it thru the soup. She leaves the ladle handle pointing toward Jason and then goes back into the kitchen.
"Isn't she going to eat with us?"
"Nope, and she gets really pissed if the food gets cold. She eats after she gets done cooking." Jason ladles up the soup made from a rich chicken stock with scallions, ginger, garlic, carrots, baby bok choy and small white squares-- firm tofu. "Li's parents were always working either on their ministry or at the fishmarket, so Li took on the cooking early on. This soup is already a regular. It's like the Chinese version of chicken soup or something. Luckily Michael loves it. He even starts sniffing, or if Carly calls and says that he's sniffing then I’m delivering soup across town...." Jason shakes his head. "But I think he's doing it on purpose."
Sonny takes a first bite and his brows go up. "Yes, I see where you'd believe that."
They are about half way thru their bowl of soup when Li comes out with a large bowl of steamed rice. On the next trip is Ginger Scallops. By the time they guys are half way thru a serving of that then Li brings out the Garlic Eggplant. The final hot dish is green beans in an oyster sauce. And then once all the hot dishes have been sampled she brings out a small plate of sliced mango. Something she couldn't believe was available in January. Actually everything is out of season except for the ingredients for the soup. She hadn't been able to resist.
When Johnny Cook is ready to take his dinner break, Em is already waiting for him in his apartment over Porter's restaurant. His face lights up to see her there. "Hey I didn't know you were coming over tonight. I'll have Ma send up another dinner."
"She knows I'm here. I called ahead."
"Oh really?" Johnny comes over and gives Em a kiss and brushes her hair back affectionately.
"Yeah, she's going to call Frank in so you can have the rest of the night off."
"Really." Johnny sits down on the couch next to Em. "Is everything okay?"
"Well... I guess that would depend on how you define... Okay." Emily hesitates over the last.
"Emily?" Like Jason Morgan or his mother, Johnny can put a world of subtext to one word.
Em sighs. "Okay. The last shoot I did for Vogue, for Gary Winslow..."
"Right. I remember. You saved his ass when Orchid didn't show up. He sent you that dress as a Thank You. That portrait in your office over at Deception is from that shoot in one of his designs."
"Well it the shoot was for the cover of Vogue, for February."
"Great. It should be on the newsstands any day." Johnny says supportively.
"I have an advance copy." Em reaches behind her to the magazine that is stuffed down in the cushions. "I didn't know they were going to use that outfit for the cover." She says in a rush as she hands the magazine to her boyfriend. "I really thought they'd use the one like Missy made into a portrait... or there was that jungle print that Gary gave me. I didn't think they'd use this one."
"Whoa." Johnny's eyes get big. "Are you wearing... anything underneath this?"
"It's a body stocking."
"You can't tell." Johnny looks up and meets his girlfriend's eyes.
"Grandfather is going to kill me."
"No, no honey. Edward isn't going to kill you. Winslow? Probably. You're going to be off to that Tibetan all girl's school he's always threatening you with."
"What do you think?" Em half holds her breath waiting for the reply.
Johnny opens up the magazine to the index and then flips to the story on Winslow with details on the photo shoot. Em in a variety of Winslow outfits and then some candid's of her with the designer, standing, draped over him and then more of them dancing. An interview with Winslow. Absolutely no mention of the scandal that had gone along with the shoot. "I think I'm dating a supermodel."
"You don't mind?" Em says on an exhale. Maybe everything is going to be fine after all.
"I didn't say that. Em, I know this is something you did to get your Grandfather's goat. Not this." Johnny pats the magazine. "But the modeling. A way to get legit income he couldn't use to control you. You have Deception now. You did that take over of Helen of Troy. You still do the consulting on the promenade with the Old Man. You do all that volunteer work for Queen of Angels. You're an investor in Maddy's coffee kiosks..."
"Just the dock ones."
"Right. What I'm saying is that you haven't gone on a modeling gig since this one."
Em replies defensively and a part of her wonders why. "I had a broken leg."
"You've been out of the cast for awhile. Em, I have the restaurant. I get to do something I love to do every day. I have my family. I'm dating a girl I'm crazy about."
"You better be talking about me, bub."
Johnny leans over and gives her a kiss. "I'm just saying, as long as you're doing what you love I'm going to back you 100%."
"Will you go with me to tell my family?"
"So that's why you had Ma bring Frank in. I get it now. You think you're going to need back up? Wanna borrow my vest?" Johnny refers to the bulletproof vest that his mother had bought for him the first Christmas after he started working for Morgan and Corinthos.
"You don't have to say anything. Just be there. I don't know where it's going to come from... not really... I mean Grandfather is a given. But I don't know how Mom or Dad or even Ned is going to react...so if I just knew that you had my back."
"You've got it. You want to do this now?"
"Yeah, before I chicken out."
Bundled up against the cold, Nik and Maddy walk the neighborhood as they do every night giving Cinnamon her nightly constitutional and checking out the neighborhood. "So how long did it take you to convince Larry's Partner to do the store?"
"Oh he was convinced before I picked him up." Maddy strings an arm thru Nikolas'. "And if he shows up with drawings tomorrow then we'll know for sure that he's been working on it based on what Larry told him rather than what he saw."
"So what were you two doing?"
"He had to make it look good!" Maddy says indignantly. "Besides I think he got a few ideas too. He was mentioning things like bullet proof glass because he didn't like the esthetics of the bars on the windows."
"Bars on the windows."
"Right. And surveillance cameras for the parking lot and the store. And there will have to be a safe built in because if Mr. Chow is anything like his sister he is not going to like banks. Mei's Grandmother keeps her savings stashed in her apartment." Maddy leans in. "Gold. When I bought the sewing machines for her I had to have it converted to dollars. And it just wasn't Grandmother it was all of them. I think it's cultural."
"Surveillance cameras. Gold." Nik shakes his head. "Okay, I understand the gold part. It's liquid asset really don't have to worry about banks being open or holding onto your assets if the government happens to disagree with you."
"You would understand that."
"So... Lucky needs to put together a surveillance system."
"I know the Chows need to be safe but the place can't be a cell." Maddy reminds. "And it can't cost a million dollars either. I want to be able to sell it to Jason and not have either of us feel screwed."
"Then Lucky definitely needs to do it rather than someplace like Arrow Security. Hell if the Chows are really nice to Lucky-- he might let them have his safe."
Everyone is gathered in the Living room waiting for Em to arrive. She'd called ahead wanting to get everything over at one time. When Em and Johnny walk in she hesitates for a moment when she sees Lila sitting there by the fire. It's after the time that Lila would normally have retired for the evening. The only time Grandmother stayed up late was when she had a theater date with Grandfather and then she prepped for it by having a long nap in the afternoon. "Grandmother, I didn't know you would still be up." Emily comes over and gives Lila a kiss on the cheek.
"How could I sleep when I heard that you had news." Lila looks at Johnny questioningly.
"Did you hear from one of your colleges?" Alan asks.
Ned had received one of the mysterious phone calls as well. "You couldn't be planning a take over of ELQ." Ned jokes. "You would have told me."
"Ha, you'd think so." Ned's wife, Alexis mutters only loud enough for him to hear. "Unless Jerry and Jax finally got to her."
"Shush." Ned reminds himself to kick Jax's ass at something just for GPs. Jax did go along with whatever Emily wanted to do at Deception. It's his way of trying to get back on Jerry's good side and out of the doghouse.
Edward looks at Johnny suspiciously. Emily had caught three bouquets at the last three weddings that there had been in town: Carly, Bobbie and then Cookie's when she'd married Johnny's father the judge. "What is it, Child? What's the big news?"
Emily winces. "Well this has been a long time coming..." She begins.
"Because if it's a college out of town, I forbid it." Edward interrupts. "You can do just fine at PCU and you're learning all the business you need with your little company."
"Grandfather, Helen of Troy is the number three cosmetic company in the country... that takeover proved that Emily and Deception isn't just some little company." Ned protests. With AJ running ELQ he'd been spending most of his day with the day to day at Deception helping Emily learn the ropes of managing a company.
"Thank you." Edward nods. "Prove my point. You can learn more here, little girl, than you would ever learn going off to one of those colleges."
"Father, Emily has a good head on her shoulders and Monica and I will support our daughter's decision whatever school she wants to go to." Alan interjects. Edward does have a habit of interfering with his parenting of his youngest. Every once in awhile he needed a reminder of Who the Daddy really is.
"Quit ducking, Em. They're going to get so far off track that you'll never get it out." Johnny true to his word is at Em's back and standing next to Lila.
"It's not about College." Em declares loudly. "I'm still looking over all my letters and I have a little bit of time left to make up my mind. Everyone here already knows about what I'm going to share I just wanted to remind you. This isn't the cover of Seventeen. It's the cover of Vogue and it's coming out in the next couple weeks. I know a lot has happened since the shoot and you might have forgotten that I had it coming out."
"You called us all together about one of your modeling gigs?" Monica looks at Alan. "There is probably going to be a rash of press about it. That was the shoot that got everything started with the kidnapping." Monica nods. "It's good to know, honey."
"I received an advance copy today."
Johnny hands the rolled up magazine to Lila. It's turned to the article that goes along with the photo shoot. "Oh Darling, you look as if you were having such a good time."
"I did, Grandmother. It was a wonderful shoot." Emily stiffens wondering when the excitement is going to start.
Everyone crowds around Lila's chair to see the pictures. Monica is the first one to remember this was all about the Cover of Vogue and flips the magazine closed. There is a collective indrawn breath.
"REGINALD!!! GET THE CAR!!!"
"Grandfather?" A worried Emily asks questioningly.
"Where is my shotgun? Pervert taking naked pictures of my underage granddaughter. What's the fellow's name? Winslow?"
"Gary didn't take the pictures, Grandfather. And I'm not nude. I was wearing a body stocking... totally covered from neck to ankle." Emily emphasizes keeping a close eye on her grandfather's coloring.
"That's not what every pervert standing in line at a newsstand is going to think!" Edward snarls. "That's it! No more modeling for you! Perverts and pedophiles! Stalkers and Junkies!" And Monica knows she should be protesting. Ned knows he should be protesting. Hell Alan knows he should be protesting. But they're all basically thinking the same thing and are going to let Edward take the lead in it. "I forbid it!"
Emily straightens. "You what?!"
"There will be no more modeling and that's final!" Edward declares.
Johnny winces but it goes unseen by everyone except for Lila. Lila winces as well. Em had gotten into modeling to twist the family's tail... just as she'd taken to riding the motorcycle to make them all crazy. You couldn't order her to do anything and expect positive results. Johnny isn't any happier about the modeling than Edward, Lila can tell but had known to let Emily come to her own decision. Emily turns to her Dad. "Alan?"
"Em... I have to agree with my father." Alan says reluctantly. "It's an unhealthy environment and it's been dangerous... physically dangerous for you since long before this shoot. Back to when Tom was the Deception photographer. Then everything that happened with that model. I think it's time you quit."
Em looks from Ned to Monica. "And you're just going to go along with this? I didn't do anything wrong! And I should be forbid from doing something I'm good at? You think I should just quit? Well no, it's not going to happen."
"Not while you're living under this roof, Young Lady!" Edward declares.
"OH there is a quick fix for that. I can be out of here in twenty minutes. Wanna time me?!" Emily stalks out of the living room followed by Johnny.
"That's my daughter, Edward! And it's my roof!" Monica snarls.
"I gave it to her." Alan agrees.
"I didn't see either of you showing concern for Emily's wellbeing!" Edward retorts. And from there the furball ensues.
Lila crooks a finger at Reginald to bring him in closer. "Reggie, dear, will you take me to Emily's room please?"
"You got it, Mrs. Q." Reginald wheels the lady of the house from the room under the cover of the family squabble.
"Didn't you learn anything from Maddy?" Alexis interjects. "Dara pulled the under my roof line too. And Maddy went to live with my nephew."
Just then Edward realizes who is missing. "Cook... Where is Johnny Cook? Reginald!"